AN INSPIRATION FOR ARTISTS
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Artists have worked on and around Ballast Quay for centuries. They were inspired not only by the serenity of the Thames, the rise and fall of the tides and the views of the river traffic, but also by the busy industrial wharves, which framed the daily life of the residents of the historic buildings on Ballast Quay and formed a noisy and dirty background to their lives, a complete contrast to the serenity of the river. Thanks to the work they created of the everyday scenes that they observed, we have inherited valuable records of a lost industrial past that has disappeared forever. The
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decline of industrialisation has not diminished the artist’s passion for the area and groups of artists regularly get together to draw and be inspired by the river and the buildings that still border on it. An interesting film of the Wapping Group Artists at work painting the river from the Yacht pub on Crane Street can be accessed by clicking on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh_FlHQR7pA
The riverside is a mecca for photographers and film makers too, affording interesting locations and exciting photo opportunities. |
Thames Craft Dry Dock
Watercolour by Pamela Wright |
Union Wharf Garden, Ballast Quay
Etching by Annette Johnson Courtesy of Mary Morison |
Ballast Quay c.1852
Oil. Artist unknown
Courtesy of Jonathan & Yvonne Horsfall Turner
Oil. Artist unknown
Courtesy of Jonathan & Yvonne Horsfall Turner
The quayside at Lovell's Wharf in the 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor 
13 Ballast Quay
Sketch by Kathleen Naroznik Courtesy of Mary Morison |
Lovell's Wharf cranes in the mist 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor 
Riverside House, Greenwich
Etching by Elaine Marshall Courtesy of Mary Morison |
Lovell's Wharf quayside and cranes 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor 
Evening, Greenwich
Lithograph by R.S.E. Gaillon, published by W.Day © The British Museum, London A shore fisherman wends his way home along the riverside footpath towards Ballast Quay, with a basket of freshly caught eels, or other fish. Visible in the middle ground are the cranes on Anchor Iron Wharf with ships at their moorings, and in the distance the buildings of Greenwich Hospital. |
The view from Ballast Quay downriver 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor 
Thames Path
Photograph by Kate O’Callaghan |
The Old Royal Naval College from Ballast Quay
Watercolour artist unknown
Courtesy of Philippa Goodrich
Watercolour artist unknown
Courtesy of Philippa Goodrich
Old Coal Jetty Greenwich 3
Basia Burrough Oil on canvas Courtesy of the artist 
Old Coal Jetty Greenwich
Basia Burrough Oil on canvas Courtesy of the artist 
Ballast Quay
Print by Alex Packham Courtesy of Philippa Goodrich & Tony Fallshaw |
Low Tide Greenwich
Basia Burrough Oil on canvas Courtesy of William Swords 
Low Tide Greenwich
Basia Burrough Oil on canvas Courtesy of Pusia Chatfield 
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Lovell’s Wharf
Print by Elaine Marshall Courtesy of Kate Joekes and Dan Hayes |
Ballast Quay c.1950
by Doris Mabel Little Left: Under the Coal Pier by Terry Scales
(click on the link to see more paintings by Terry Scales) 
Robinson's scrapyard
Print by Elaine Marshall Courtesy of Kate Joekes and Dan Hayes |
